New Orleans Rum & Hemingway's Havana Daiquiri

Talk about timing. I received the latest issue of The Atlantic Magazine in the mail today, and inside is an article about some artisanal rum that was still being produced, in small qualities, in southern Louisiana and New Orleans.

The article is informative and well written, and I'm sure you will learn more of the history of rum. The end of the article switches gears, and talks about Banana Foster desserts, and how to make it properly at home.

The article is available on-line, and can be found here ...
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200510/new-orleans-rum

The same issue also has an article about Ernest Hemingway's love affair with the daiquiri - not the slurpee concotion of today, but the recipe from years past when it was considered a man's drink. This article can be read here.
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200510/hemingways-havana-bar

Vern

This month's Maui Times Weekly magazine also mentions the original daiquiri and Papa Dobles.
http://www.mauitime.com/landing.aspx?id=4
Check out the above page which has a column titled "Cocktails nobody orders anymore" which lists the original daiquiri you mentioned first, along with a few other classic drinks with a brief bit on each.

Thanks for the links.

Today would have been Ernest Hemingway's 115th birthday.

Here's a little history lesson -- and the recipe for the Hemingway Daiquiri.

It's an unusual cocktail. Note that I don't say it's a delicious cocktail. :)

Yeah, those ratios are horrible. Go with a teaspoon of Maraschino and a little over a teaspoon of white grapefruit juice and it becomes a winner. Since I'm not a diabetic like Papa Hemmingway was I'll also add 0.5-1tsp. simple syrup or cane syrup.

Oh man, the drink is even worse like that! :) This is Jim Meehan's recipe and I find it a definite improvement. I still think it needs some sugar, though.

David J. Montgomery
Professor Cocktail
Professor Cocktail's Zombie Horde: Recipes for the World's Most Lethal Drink

[ Edited by: djmont 2014-07-21 09:42 ]

I like Wayne Curtis on Hemingway:

"Turns out, trusting Hemingway on cocktail quality is like trusting an NFL linebacker on how to make pasta. His concern was more about quantity than quality—Hemingway proudly claimed the El Floridita house record of 16 double Daiquiris. Of course he didn’t want sugar in his Daiquiri; those 16 drinks, if traditionally made, would have involved nearly two cups of sugar. If the alcohol didn’t kill him, the sugar certainly would."

You've gotta love Papa!

David J. Montgomery
Professor Cocktail
Professor Cocktail's Zombie Horde: Recipes for the World's Most Lethal Drink

[ Edited by: djmont 2014-07-21 10:01 ]

In case y'all haven't heard, the best single source of info regarding daiquiris, Hemingway's drinking, Cuba, etc is the book "Potions of the Caribbean"; can't recommend this book enough!

With no offense to Jeff Berry, whom I adore, I think Philip Green's book might be better on the subject of Hemingway's drinking habits.

But here's Jeff on Papa: "Only a small minority of his many biographers choose to ignore the pink elephant in the room: Ernest Hemingway, like Errol Flynn, was an alcoholic. And alcoholics do not make good drinks. They make strong drinks. They're not interested in striking the right balance of sweet, sour, strong and weak. They're interested in getting lit." (p. 141-2, Potions)

Good stuff!

today's topics full circle: i always thought the hemingway daiquiri was damn good using st james ambre...

I really like the Hemingway Daiquiri, I'm not sure where I got my recipe from but it differs from lots that I've seen ~ I've always intended to revise the fruit juices & maraschino down but quite like it as it is.

Here it is:

2oz rum
2oz grapefruit
1oz lime
3/4 maraschino
Sugar syrup to taste (1oz for me)
I also add a little grenadine (sometimes).
Blended :)

I have used both Spanish & French white rums, both are good but I prefer the Spanish - the French adds another flavour but there's plenty going on in the drink already.

there's a lot of recipes out there for the "hemingway daiquiri," and for the "papa dobles," sometimes they are the same sometimes they are different. i make mine 3 oz rum, 1 oz lime, 1/2 grapefruit, 1/4 marschino. sometimes 1 tsp sugar.

Here is the original recipe for the "E. Henmiway [sic]" Special, as printed in Bar La Florida cocktail guide, 1935:

2 ounces Bacardi.
1 Teaspoonful Grape Fruit Juice.
1 Teaspoonful Marraschino.
The juice of 1/2 lemon. [A mistranslation. This is a lime.]
Frappe ice.
Shake well and serve frappe.

[This is the recipe, as printed, with the original spelling.]

That is pretty much the recipe I use, plus 0.5 tsp. simple syrup. And I go shaken/strained and not frappe.

Well, I think the point of the Hemingway daiquiri is as described by David in his blog.

Hemingway wanted a strong drink without sugar, so to add more fruit juice and/or sugar, makes it not a Hemingway daiquiri in my mind.

Personally, I prefer drinks with the sweet and sour balanced, whether they are strong or weak, so you won't catch me drinking a Hemingway daiquiri unless that's all you got.

:wink:

My apologies to Martiki-bird.

Through some screw-up with the TC login, that post above (made by myself, tabuzak) was credited to her.

So, if you want to agree or disagree with my sort of literal interpretation of the Hemingway daiquiri, please direct
your comments to myself.

Really odd.

Jack

I spy with my little eye... identity theft! :)

Here's how Hemingway biographer A.E. Hotchner recorded the preparation of Hemingway's Daiquiris that they drank at El Foridita in 1948:

"A Papa Doble was compounded of two and a half jiggers of Bacardi White Label Rum, the juice of two limes and half a grapefruit and six drops of maraschino...placed in an electric mixer over shaved ice, whirled vigorously and served foaming in large goblets."

Hemingway held the record for drinking 16 in one night. That is 60 ounces of rum -- 2 and 1/3 standard size (750ml) bottles worth. He liked them slushie, because they slid down more easily -- and he liked them without sugar, because that much sugar would kill a horse. :)

I believe that Ernest Hemingway was a diabetic, that is why he was served his daiquiri's without sugar

Also, One of his favorite drinks aboard his boat Pilar was a Vermouth Panache, a blend of sweet and dry vermouth with Angostura Bitters. 16 of these would kill a horse!

-Longboard

[ Edited by: Longboard 2014-07-22 15:07 ]

Hemingway had a hereditary disease called Hemochromatosis, which can cause diabetes (amongst a litany of other maladies). Ernest's father, Clarence, had the disease, as well as diabetes, and it was likely one of the reasons he killed himself. Papa wanted to avoid that fate, so he ordered his drinks without sugar.

Of course, the rampant alcoholism didn't help things, regardless...

Wow Professor Cocktail,

Just clicked onto your site.

Nicely done. I'm enjoying cruising through it.

-Longboard

Thank you! I appreciate that.

My liver salutes you!